Each August, the NHL holds a research and development camp in which former coaches and players team up together to test out potential new rules and settings to use in the NHL. What’s fun about this way of doing things is you have people who are highly experienced in the ways of the game (Dave King, Ken Hitchcock and Brendan Shanahan) testing things out in a controlled setting with experienced people running things and top prospects for the 2011 NHL entry draft playing things out. How could anything go wrong?

When you see the list of things they’ll be working on at the R&D camp, you’ll see that things can go very wrong just out of the board room where the ad wizards came up with some of this stuff. Some of the ideas they’ll be giving a thorough run-through with range from the intriguing to the seemingly obscene. Here’s the full schedule of what they’ll be testing out in Toronto on August 18th and 19th.

Wednesday August 18 (all times ET; subject to change)

10:00 a.m. – Noon

Hybrid icing rule;

No line change for team committing an offside;

Crease reset rule;

Face-off variation (face-off controlled by whistle in place of traditional puck drop);

Overtime: three minutes of 4-on-4; three minutes of 3-on-3; three minutes of 2-on- 2 followed by shootout (5 players per team).

2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Bigger crease;

Verification goal line (additional line situated behind the goal line);

Wider blue lines;

Line changes zone in front of each bench;

Face-off variations (infringement results in the offending player moving back further, three face-off dots down the middle of the ice);

No icing the puck while shorthanded;

OT – three minutes of 4-on-4; three minutes of 3-on-3; three minutes of 2-on-2 with long line changes; followed by three shooters per team shootout (if tied after three shots then players who have shot previously can shoot again).

Thursday August 19 (all times ET; subject to change)

9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

No touch icing;

Team that commits an offside infraction cannot make a line change and face-off is in offending team zone;

Face-off variation: after a face-off violation, opposition center may choose his face-off opponent;

Second referee located off the playing surface;

Delayed penalty rule

No icing the puck while shorthanded;

OT – 4-on-4 (with long line change) followed by a shootout with five players.

1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Variations of special teams play;

OT – 4-on-4 (with long line change).

All of these things are listed off without any explanation as to what some of them actually mean. After all, if you can guess what the “crease reset rule is” or how a second verification goal line might be used then you’re a better person than I. Some of these ideas are thought provoking for how they could work out (second referee off the playing surface) and others would cause a firestorm of controversy if they were implemented (2-on-2 overtime).

Some of the other modifications mentioned (larger crease, wider blue lines) are ideas that have been toyed with in the past and while the larger crease would give the goalies more dominion to rule over and potentially help cut down in the number of questionable goaltender interference calls in front of the net, wider blue lines would give attacking teams a little more room to play with in the attack zone.

One modification I’m disappointed to not see listed off is rather than issuing a delay of game penalty to a team that dumps the puck into the crowd from their own zone, punishing them by not being allowed to change lines would make things a bit easier to stomach. Instances where players put the puck into the crowd unintentionally yet are still penalized for doing so is the ultimate cheap penalty. While some teams might do it on purpose to get a break to relieve the pressure in their own end, more often than not teams are getting a penalty for just crappy luck.

How things play out during this camp should be interesting and the rule that seems to be getting the most testing is the icing on the penalty kill as it’ll be tested on both days. Whether this is coming because of the actions of the NCAA to try and force it through there is unknown, but don’t be surprised if this is a change that comes to all levels in the not-so distant future.

Great Article! I feel there are a lot of things that make sense and theres a lot of things that are overkill.
Joe, I agree with you about the delay of game penalty for firing the puck out of the zone. I think not allowing a line change is penalty enough.
Verification Goal line? They must be talking about a line that is distances at exactly the width of the puck, located behind the goal line that the net cameras could tell if its completely behind the line. Once its touching, we know its a goal! Not a bad idea, presuming that’s what they mean…
Trying out 4 different OT rules? I actually like the 3 minutes of 4 on 4, three minutes of 3 on three. Afterwards there should be the normal shootout rules. Two on two? Ridiculous, we don’t even see that when the penalty box is full… Toss it! (Its like they’re trying to find any gimmick, logical or senseless, that will draw in more fans. I doubt that will work NHL!)
Faceoffs don’t need to change, although I would think that the player picking an opponent for an infraction is a good idea. They just can’t pick goaltenders and D-men… Only C, RW, and LW.
I have a problem with the penalty on a SH team that ices… The entire point of icing the puck is to stop the game from being too boring. But taking it away from teams that are short handed would cause the PPG ratios to go off the charts!
Larger creases and wider blue lines make sense. The wider blue lines might not only give the offense more room to attack, but also stop those frivelous offsides calls too. I hate it when an offsides is called and the player specifically made an effort he was off by 2 inches though… And line change zones? I would imagine that is a color coded section in which a player cannot get on the ice until someone enters the aptly colored zone? I have no problem with that, but I think that for the most part its well enough managed. There’d probably be too many colors on the ice anyways… Ice USED to be whitish blue…
Anyone else’s thoughts?

Chad - Aug 6, 2010 at 3:03 PM

I like the idea of “no touch” icing, which should significantly cut down on injury when players are racing to a potentially iced puck. 2 on 2 would actually be fun… if it was half ice! Four people trolling around the ice would look like a poorly advertised Rat Hockey Session. 3 on 3 is a little better, but it is not really Hockey at that point. I have to disagree about off-sides though Fecteau. I like the idea of keeping a stringent off-sides policy. 2 inches or a foot… off-sides is off-sides (we wouldn’t make the bases bigger is baseball to allow more singles, would we?). All the other stuff is silly and has zero value-add (whistled face-offs, etc.) The goal line verification is actually pretty hysterical. I have yet to see an instant replay that would have benefited from a second goal line (if that is what it is). They have like 6 angles now as it is. I also DO NOT like the “no-icing puck while shorthanded” idea. Killing penalties actually brings fans into the game and “clearing the puck all the way” is a rich part of the penalty kill. I think fans would suffer at the hands of that rule.

Alex - Aug 6, 2010 at 3:21 PM

No Touch Icing, Wider blue lines and the “Verification Goal line” assuming Facteau is correct in his interpretation (and I agree with him … but this IS the Bettman run NHL office sooo lets not assume anything…) are each rules that should be agreed to.
No touch is the one I especially cheer for since it just makes too much sense … I’ve seen way too many injuries in the NHL over the years from the race to tag the puck. Please let this one pass!

BobaFett - Aug 8, 2010 at 6:14 AM

The only rule they should change is that if you are on the PK, you can’t ice it. If you do, you can’t line change.
A team that got a penalty should not be rewarded.
PPG rates would go way up, and that’s good for the game.
Leave the crease where it is, and remove the trapezoid.
Leave OT the way it is, 10M with a shootout (3).